Ten Ways to Ensure Disaster Protection in the Cloud

5. Contractual LanguageReview cloud-vendor agreements to see what is being promised in case of a disaster - especially restoration times.

In a sense, the cloud is all about trust: You're outsourcing critical IT functions such as storage, data management, tech support and application oversight to a third party. The cloud is saving organizations a lot of money on operational and capital expenses, and it's freeing up in-house teams to focus on tech initiatives that support the company's core strengths and strategic mission. But what happens in the case of a disaster? Should a fire, storm, earthquake or other unforeseen catastrophe strike your physical space, what kind of plans will you need to make with your cloud vendors to keep mission-critical apps and infrastructure up and running? And what happens if your cloud partner happens to go offline? Do you have any backup plans ready to go in case that partner goes MIA indefinitely? Ignoring these possibilities could ultimately hurt your business and damage your reputation. To address these issues, Janco Associates has come up with the following to-do list to stay afloat when disaster strikes.